The Fintry Trust

Library

Early books

on

Druidism

printed

before

1820

Here is a selection of early books on Druidism in the Fintry Trust Library,

all of which were printed before 1820

William Borlase: Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall:

consisting of several essays on the First Inhabitants, Druid-superstition, Customs and

Remains of the most remote antiquity in Britain and the British Isles, exemplified and

proven by Monuments now extant in Cornwall and the Scilly Islands, with a

vocabulary of the Cornu-British language.

Second edition revised with several additions, by the author, to which is added a map of Cornwall and two new

plates Illustrated. London: Printed by W. Bowyers and J. Nichols. 1769. (Pp. 464)

* * * *

John Toland: A Critical History of the Celtic Religion and Learning:

containing an account of the Druids; or, the Priests and Judges, of the Vaids,

or the Diviners and Physicians ; and of the Bards, or the Poets and Heralds;

of the Ancient Gauls, Britons, Irish and Scots. With the History of Abaris, the

Hyperborian, Priest of the Sun. To which is added An Abstract of the Life of

the Author. London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, and Co. (1814?) (Pp. 252)

John Toland (1670-1722) was a rationalist philosopher and free-thinker who

wrote numerous books and pamphlets. Born in Ireland, he ended his life in

London ‘as he had lived, in great poverty, in the midst of his books, with his

pen in his hand.’

William Borlase (1695-1772) was a Cornish antiquary, geologist and naturalist, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was a

friend of Alexander Pope for whose grotto at Twickenham he provided the greater part of the fossils and minerals.

Borlase played a significant role in the 18th century revival of interest and research into the Druids and megalithic remains.

William Cooke: An Enquiry into the Patriarchal and Druidical Religion, Temples, &c.:

Being the substance of some letters to Sir Hildebrand Jacob, Bart. wherein, the

Primaeval Institution and Universality of the Christian Scheme is manifested; The

Principles of the Patriarchs and Druids are laid open and shewn to correspond entirely

with each other, and both with the doctrines of Christianity; the Earliest Antiquities of

the British Islands are explained; and, An Account given of the Sacred Structures of

the Druids; Particularly the stupendous works of Abiry, Stonehenge, &c., in Wiltshire,

are minutely described.

Illustrated with copper plates. Second Edition, with Additions. London: Lockyer Davis. 1755. (Pp. 75)

* * * *

John Smith: Galic Antiquities: consisting of a History of the Druids, particularly of

those of Caledonia; a Dissertation on the Authenticity of the Poems of Ossian, and a

Collection of Ancient Poems, translated from the Galic of Ullin, Ossian, Orran, &c.

Edinburgh: T. Cadell. 1780 (Pp. 352)

bound with: Squire Choir Gaur; the Grand Orrery of the Ancient Druids, commonly

called Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, Astronomically explained, and Mathematically

proved to be a Temple erected in the earliest Ages, for observing the Motions of the

Heavenly bodies. Illustrated with copper plates.Folded plan. Salisbury: the Author. 1771. (Pp. 73)

John Smith was the Minister at Kilbrandon in Argyleshire and was widely regarded as an

accomplished Gaelic scholar. He was involved in the controversy surrounding the

poems of Ossian (published by James Macpherson in 1760) and argues here for their

authenticity. The consensus now is that the poems were written by Macpherson

himself.

William Cooke (c.1710-1780) was an antiquarian and

vicar of Enford in Wiltshire. He maintained that

‘Druidical Temples were laid out in such Figures as

were hieroglyphical and intended to describe the

Nature of the Divinity’. On Avebury, Cooke proposed

‘that it was really a Temple sacred to the ever-blessed

and undivided Trinity’.

John Ogilvie: The Fane of the Druids. A Poem. In two books. (This edition printed without the author’s name)

London: Printed for J. Murray. 1787. (Pp. 50, 38)

* * * *

Jacob Des Moulins: Antiqua

Restaurata A Concise Historical

Account of the Ancient Druids;

shewing their Civil and Religious

Government, Ceremonies,

Groves, Derivations and

Etymologies; With Biographical

Sketches; Also, the Remains of

Druidical Antiquity in England,

Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and

France.

Frontispiece of Arch Druid. London: T. Jones (1794?) (Pp. 58)

* * * *

John Ogilvie (1732-1813) was a poet and a Minister in the Church of Scotland, at Midmar in Aberdeenshire.

This was the first poem entirely devoted to Druids. The poem shows Druids as devotees of peace, education

and the one true God, led by a silver-haired chief robed in white.

This book is dedicated to ‘The Brethren of the Most Noble and Venerable Order of Druids, under the sanction of the

Grand Lodge of England’. The author in his preface says that ‘whatever vindictive proofs I may aver of the sublimity

of our Ancestors, it must at the same time be owned, if they had their bright side they had a dark one too.....’

Edward Jones: The Bardic Museum, of Primitive British Literature; and other

Admirable Rarities; forming the Second Volume of the Musical, Poetical and

Historical Relicks of the Welsh Bards and Druids: drawn from authentic

documents of remote antiquity (with great pains now rescued from oblivion)

and never before published: containing, the Bardic Triads; Historic Odes;

Eulogies; Songs; Elegies; Memorials of the Tombs of the Warriors; of King Arthur

and His Knights; Regalias; the Wonders of Wales, et cetera: with English

translations and Historic Illustrations: Likewise, the Ancient War-tunes of the

Bards; to these National Melodies are added New Basses; with Variations, for

the Harp, or Harpsichord; Violin, or Flute. London. Printed for the Author. 1802 (Pp 112)

* * * *

Edward Jones: Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards: preserved by

tradition, and authentic manuscripts, from very remote antiquity, never

before published. To the Bardic Tunes are added Variations for the Harp,

Piano-Forte, Violin, or Flute, with a select collection of the Pennillion, and

Englynion, or Poetic Blossoms, Epigrammatic Stanzas, and Pastoral Songs of

Wales, with English translations. Likewise, a General History of the Bards,

and Druids, from the earliest period to the present time: with an account of

their music, and poetry. To which is prefixed, a copious Dissertation of the

Musical Instruments of the Aboriginal Britons.

The Third Edition, augmented, and corrected by the author, with additional

plates (The First Volume). London: Printed for the Author. 1808. (Pp. 184)

Edward Jones (1752-1824), known as ‘Bardd y Brenin’, was a harpist, music antiquary and Eisteddfod judge. He studied

and collected a great variety of traditional music, publishing in addition to Welsh melodies the music of other parts of

the British Isles and also of many countries worldwide. Among the music is the reputed first printing of the music to

‘Nos Galan’, now used in the popular carol ‘Deck the Halls’. The publication of these books cost Jones first his office and

later his extensive library which had to be auctioned off to pay his debts.

Edward Davies: Celtic Researches, on the Origin, Traditions & Language of the Ancient

Britons; with some introductory sketches on Primitive Society.

(includes Essay, on the Origin of the Celtae: their Institution of Druidism: and their

Pretensions to the Knowledge of Letters.) London: The Author. 1804. (Pp. 559)

* * * *

Edward Davies: The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids:

ascertained by National Documents; and compared with the

General Traditions and Customs of Heathenism, as illustrated by

the most Eminent Antiquaries of our Age, with an Appendix

containing Ancient Poems and Extracts, with some remarks on

Ancient British Coins.

(includes Section II – General View of Druidical Theology –

Character and Rites of Hu, the Helio-Arkite God – the Bacchus of

the heathen Britons) London: Printed for J. Booth. 1809 (Pp. 642)

* * * *

A Complete History of the Druids; their Origin, Manners, Customs, Powers, Temples, Rites, and Superstition;

with an Inquiry into their Religion, and its Coincidence with the Patriarchal. With two engravings.

(Frontispiece – A Druid. Facing P. 47 – The Wicker Image) Lichfield: Printed by and for T.G. Lomax. 1810. (Pp. 68)

Edward Davies (1756-1831) was a Welsh antiquary and curate, known as ‘Celtic Davies’. He was closely involved

in the revival of Druidic tradition and was highly influential in his day. In 1823 he was made a Companion of

Literature by the Royal Society of Literature. He was one of the first to question the authenticity of the claims of

Iolo Morganwg with regard to the Gorsedd of Bards. One keen reader of his books was William Blake, who used

his books as the basis for his painting ‘the Ancient Britons’ (now lost).

This work may have been written by a Mr Green, a

Lichfield antiquary. The book contains a striking

image of a wicker man: ‘The most solemn sacrifice,

either in Gaul or Britain, was the human hecatomb

they offered under the shape of a man. They used to

rear and dress up a huge statue, or image of a man,

whose limbs consisted of twigs woven together in the

nature of basket-ware: they filled it with live men, and

after that, set it on fire, and so destroyed the poor

creatures in the smoke and flames.’

Travels of a British Druid; or, the Journal of Elynd: illustrative of the

Manners and Customs of Ancient Nations; with Appropriate Reflections for

Youth. To which is added, A History of the Doctrines of the Druids, and of

their Final Extirpation in Caledonia. In Two Volumes

London : Printed for J. Hatchard. 1811. (Pp. 187, 167)

An educational novel in which Elynd the Druid travels to Rome, Greece, and Egypt.

‘The juvenile reader may ... with safety follow the footsteps of the British Druid,

through those countries famed for the earthy knowledge of wisdom and science,

and become familiarised with ancient manners, without risk of corrupting his own.’

* * * *

William Richards: The Welsh Nonconformists’ Memorial; or,

Cambro-British Biography; containing Sketches of the

Founders of the Protestant Dissenting Interest in Wales. To

which are prefixed, An Essay on Druidism, and Introduction of

the Gospel into Britain. With an Appendix, including the

author’s minor pieces, and his Last Views of the Christian

Religion. (Edited with notes and illustrations by John Evans)

Frontispiece of An Ancient Druid London. 1820 (Pp. 504)

William Richards (1749-1818) was a General

Baptist minister and historian, who was born in

Pembrokeshire but lived most of his life in Kings

Lynn. In 1803 he married Emiah Owens, who died

two years later. Profoundly distressed, Richards

was unable to go out into society, but he did

produce historical essays, which are collected in this

volume.